Sunday, May 3, 2009

Pride and the Perfect Pie Crust

Hello all,

I am typing on a Sunday afternoon, with fingers still sticky from getting last year's sweet corn out of freezer bags, thankful for my adorable Mary E apron which right now dons a LOT of flour, and await the arrival of the gang on the bus with Dad.

Not my usual time of writing and catching up with you all, but the Holy Spirit prompted and we all know I am trying to get better at listening to Him so here I sit.

This morning in the Nursery I had such a good chat with some sweet Ladies of my church. I seriously think I love them more and more each time I see them. We were laughing and discussing things we faced in the last week, particularly with our Sweeties, and our own selfish will. Which does not make a good mix if you haven't tried it yet... We really gleaned from each other, remembered that we all have sinful natures and decided to do better this week! Did I mention I just love these ladies???

Well, while I was getting dinner ready, Caleb asked me if I was making a pie. Hmmmmm...... that got me thinking. We DID just get some more frozen pie filling from Mom's freezer yesterday.......maybe I should whip one up. Ok so that wasn't the right way to describe making a pie......maybe work one up is better.

I mixed all of my ingredients up, got the filling out of OUR freezer, (pause in this post to remove splinter and console one of my kiddos who thought they were losing all of their blood.....) and commenced rolling out the pie dough. This is where I have to interject two thoughts. One, at our house Oh maybe a year ago we had an unwritten rule at our house that no one was allowed to speak in the house when Mom rolled out a pie crust. (Think I mentioned that a while back..) Humorous rule? Of course. Important? Unbelievably! Remember I have a 600 sq foot house and 5 kiddos in that space.......

Second, a question. Why don't you make homemade pies???? Why don't most people make homemade pies? We all know they taste a great deal better than store bought.....so......why not make them? Some might say, "I never learned how." And I refute that with the fact that 6 or so years ago our church for our Old Fashioned Sunday was going to have a pie contest and I was in charge of it (still am!) and I had NEVER made a pie. I went from Lady to Lady telling them that I was going to make my first ever pie and wanted them to join me for some old fashioned fun. I got the recipe, followed it explicitly, got to rolling out the crust and wept buckets of tears over it!!! Literally. I was mad, sad, depressed and discouraged all in 5 minutes time. Was it fun. No way Jose, but I did it and saying you don't know how is just poor excuse friend.

How about, they are too time consuming or too hard to make. Again, you make time for other things that your family enjoys..... can't get off that easy either.

I firmly believe that the main reason we do not make pies anymore is because we don't want them to look bad. We have this "Mile high apple pie" picture in our minds, with us in a pristine starched white ruffled apron holding the pie in front of our husbands as the children smile with delight and he gives us a look that says, "Honey you are the best!" Kinda like a really cute Norman Rockwell magazine cover. And then the reality of half our crust sticking to the rolling pin, flour just about everywhere, including our stained old apron hits us and we wonder why we even bothered in the first place. We dismiss our "Little House on the Prairie feel good moment," and say we must be crazy to do this sort of thing ever again!!!

We want our pie to look like the one at Giant Eagle and figure that if we can't get it to look like that, then it is worth the 9 dollars to get one and set it in front of our family. We forget somehow that a bad looking pie tastes just as good as a perfect looking pie, that making one at home cost a LOT less, and also that we are deciding not to teach our kids to make them because of our own pride. Yep that is it plain and simple. We are teaching those around us that if we cannot make something that looks perfect it is not worth our time. That seems like an unbelievably high standard to me. No one can attain perfection in any area. So should we stop doing just about everything??? I want my kids to learn to make something like a pie because it is a wonderful way to enjoy Sunday dinner, laugh at the crust sticking to the rolling pin, and thoroughly enjoy the fruits of their labors with a heaping scoop of ice cream.

So I was rolling out my crust and it was breaking and splitting and just before I grumbled I decided to allow the Holy Spirit to remind me of the conversation in the Nursery. Pride is such an ugly thing and not only kept me from being the wife I should have been last week, but almost.....almost, kept me from even a silly thing like making an apple pie to bless my family

I could have looked like this when my Husband and kids came home....

But instead I am thankful that the Lord showed me that pride and vanilla ice cream just don't go well together.

P.S. Just for fun I thought I might add this.... Remember that first pie I ever made, and just about threw away before it even made it to Old Fashioned Sunday??? Well it won first place! Yep, FIRST PLACE! And I held first place for 4 years straight! A sense of humor is a terrible thing to waste!

3 comments:

You are so right! I have a really good pie crust recipe that is easy (well for me anyway!:o))) If you want it, I'll share it with you, but then again, it might not be the crust that's the problem?:o) Thanks for your reminding me to keep working on being a good wife and mom for the Lord! Never quit!:o)

This isn't about pie..we are raising our 4 kids in a 900 sq.ft. house..it can be done...we attribute alot of our family closeness and ability to get along to our small house! You kind of HAVE to learn to get along when you are so close..plus, it's hard to fight...mom can ALWAYS hear what you are doing!!!YOu all seem like a sweet family..maybe everyone should live in a small small did I mention small..house!

I agree. I still don't do it perfectly, and pies are some of my favorite things. BTW, If you roll across your dough a few times so your roller is a little oiled, then rub flour on the rolling pin, it helps dramatically with the stickage. Hope it helps. And, I do LOVE your sense of humor. It keeps me grounded and reminds me how much I have.

Meet our Family

I am "Wife" to my college sweetheart Joel, I am "Mom" to six children, Isaac- 13, Abigail- 12, Caleb-10, Nathan- 9, Anna- 6 and Alayna- 4. We are not your "normal" family. We live simply, love much, learn something new everyday and seek to be a real blessing to others and a witness for Christ here in our corner of the globe. I am busy, as all Mom's and Wives are, but love having the opportunity to jot down some things that will make us all laugh later!